Eleven Years Later
Shay Bourne is transferred to the I-tier at the Concord state prison. Shay is in the cell next to Lucius DuFresne, an artist with HIV who killed his gay lover, Adam. During the night Shay tells Lucius that he wants to donate his heart to a little girl he saw on TV. She is revealed to be the daughter of June and the late Kurt, Claire, who has a terminal heart condition.
Michael the juror has become the junior priest at a parish in Concord, New Hampshire. He tries to change the stereotype of a priest.
June agrees to meet Shay in a restorative justice meeting. There she asks him, "Why did you do it?" Shay answers, "She was better off dead." June agrees to take Shay's heart out of spite. A lawyer, Maggie, starts the legal process to petition the commissioner of corrections to allow Shay to be hanged so his heart can be donated to Claire. Claire's doctor determines that Shay is a perfect heart transplant match.
Maggie brings Father Michael to her parents' house for dinner. During a religious discussion, Rabbi Bloom gives Father Michael a book about the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, written by Ian Fletcher. (He is a character in a previous Picoult novel, Keeping Faith.) Shay has quoted parts of the Gospel of Thomas. One of the prisoners in the I-tier attacks a guard with a broken broom handle while cleaning his cell. He is pronounced dead by the EMT's, as Shay huddles in the corner of his cell praying. The dead guard comes back to life while the EMT's are moving his body. Another prisoner using the confusion attempts to kill Shay.
Father Michael visits Ian Fletcher to discuss the Gnostic gospels. Maggie arranges a dinner meeting with Dr. Gallagher to discuss organ donation for Shay. The dinner turns into a date. June sneaks Dudley (a spaniel) into the hospital to make Claire feel better; and a nurse reveals the upcoming transplant, which June has not discussed yet with Claire.
Shay's trial begins, and Father Michael testifies to the prisoner's religious belief that he needs to donate his heart to Clarie to obtain redemption. Father Michael uses Shay's quotations from the Gnostic gospels as his religious foundation. Ian Fletcher testifies as an expert on the Gnostic Gospels. Father Michael admits to Shay that he was on the jury that convicted him. Father Michael locates Shay's sister, Grace, and tries to convince her to forgive Shay for setting the fire that disfigured her face. Grace started the fire in an attempt to kill their abusive father. Shay took the blame to protect his sister. While Shay testifies, all of his chains fall away from him for no apparent reason.
It is later revealed that Kurt was sexually abusing Elizabeth. At the time of the murders, Shay walked in on them. He killed Kurt, who had shot Elizabeth accidentally instead of Shay. Shay had picked up Elizabeth and put her panties in his pocket, where they were found by the police.
Read more about this topic: Change Of Heart (novel), Plot Summary
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